Jin turned to look at her. He asked her: "How do you know so much about the capital?"

She turned to him with a perplexed look. Was the answer not obvious enough? She still explicitly told him: "Been here before"

Jin nodded. While it was something anyone could have guessed, it was still important to make certain. If she spoke solely from rumors and other words she heard or read about, her information might not be credible. Since she had been here before, her words had weight.

According to the date, they still had five days before the recruitment would start. They needed a place to settle at while they would wait. Jin was unfamiliar with the place and, while he was not forced to, decided to let Ame pick the place.

She led him forward, towards the tree. As they got closer, he noticed chains coming down from the top of the trees. Gigantic metallic chains. Two silver, one gold and one red.

He pointed at them and asked: "What are those?"

She turned to look and stated: "Well, there are two ways to go up the tree. Stairs, mostly used by mortals and these kinds of chains for cultivators. It's quicker to go up that way. We'll be using one, a black one, affixed to the trunk. The gold belongs solely to the royalty and leads straight to the palace, the silver belongs to two of the greatest clans. Here, see, they are coming down from branches. And that red one...Well, it's something different, used to test mortals"

Jin frowned curiously. That red one did not go all the way up but it was at least a hundred meters long. Yet she said that it was to be used by mortals? This was quite interesting. He asked her: "How so?"

She sighed and explained: "They call it the 'ascension' and it's a life-chainging opportunity for mortals. Basically, if they manage to scale that chain, they get to be nurtured to become cultivators by the royalty"

Jin's brow rosed as he analyzed the challenge. If it was him, would he be able to do it? He was not sure. Certainly, he was no stranger to scaling mountains and such back in the days. He did travel a lot. But this... A hundred meters was not a joke. This was also without any safety equipment.

Fear of death and loneliness would attack the minds of anyone trying this.

He asked: "Are there many who succeed?"

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

She snickered and retorted: "Take a guess"

He nodded and they continued on their way. Quite obviously, it was likely still there because nearly no mortals could do it. It was a way to show them hope yet keeping everything out of reach.

We gave you the opportunity, you're the one not grabbing it!

He sighed. Yet, at the same time, his interest was piqued.

...

Later on, they reached the trunk. As Jin gazed upwards, his sight was blocked by the next level of the city. It was still more than fifty meters upwards yet it provided quite the impressive shade to everything under it. Well, the tree itself was blocking much of the sunlight from reaching the roots.

Jin and Ame walked towards the bottom of a gigantic chain. It was stuck to the trunk. Yet there did not seem to be anything linking both. Was it some kind of glue? Jin planned to find about that later. Something like that could have potential as a weapon.

The chain itself was impressive as well. He touched it and felt coldness. The coldness of metal. Something expected. It was neither rusty nor slippery.

In any case, the fact that every chain link was bigger than him was quite the eye-opener. They seemed to be close to two-meters in height each with a width of an arm and a big hole in the middle.

Ame smirked as she offered: "Last one at the top pays the inn?"

Jin answered only after having begun ascending: "Sure!"

Ame cursed before rushing after him.

In the end, as expected by both, Ame reached the end of the chain the fastest. Regardless of Jin starting the ascension a little earlier, he was, in the end, of a weaker cultivation. His speed was not up to par.

He did not mind.

Either way, she would have made him pay. She did that throughout the entire duration of the travel anyways. But that was fine. A few silvers were not that much and Jin saw the benefits he would get later on.

They only stopped after reaching the 'crown'.

The palace stood there, magnificent. It was very much a castle as one could expect. It was grand and luxurious even from a distance for sure but there did not seem to be anything special to it. At the very least, Jin was not mesmerized by it. He had seen many castles by now... Well, this was an ordinary castle. If not for the location it was in that is.

Unfortunately, they could not enter the 'Crown' as they did not belong to the royalty, nobility or their associated workers.

They came here solely to confirm the date of recruitment anyways.

After that was done, Ame led Jin to an inn situated at the top of the trunk, not too far from the crown. Honestly, it was not cheap. As Jin rejected to stay there, Ame grumbled: "Aren't you wealthy enough?"

Jin retorted: "I would rather spend my wealth elsewhere"

She grumbled and was reluctant but understood his point. After all, it was not easy to be a cultivator in this continent where resources were scarce.

They ended settling on an inn at the foot of the tree. It was close to a chain, had decent facilities and was rather cheap. Jin was satisfied. From here on out, he would be able to focus on himself and start growing once more.

He would have to get Sarina a body first and receive her advice. And then...He had remained at the peak of the ninth stage for long enough. He was now very much craving for a breakthrough.